Straddle That Saddle & Let's Hit the Brooklyn/Queens Border

Wind & Weave your way through the city's biggest boroughs

Over the course of the 19th Century, as graveyards became big business, New York State sought to minimize the monopolies of landowners by limiting the acreage a cemetery could occupy in each county. How did the graveyard industry respond to this? By doubling up, and buying land on the border of each county, of course!

The often-disputed border of Brooklyn & Queens has shifted quite a bit over the years. Dotted with expansive graveyards, the border zigzags its way from the eastern end of Newtown Creek all the way to Jamaica Bay. Along the way, we’ll explore neighborhoods of everyday New Yorkers, teaming with Puerto Ricans & Dominicans, Polish & Eastern Europeans, and the strongholds of an enduring Italian & German immigrant population. In Forest Park, we’ll get lost in the oldest natural forest in Queens, before entering bucolic Forest Hills Gardens. In Bushwick, we’ll see how former breweries & factories have transformed into artist lofts and artisinal shops & cafes festooned by some of the world’s most prolific graffiti artists.

Our lunch stop is a perfect example of this transformation. Housed in a former brewery, this new experimental kitchen is now home to one of Brooklyn's best kept pizza secrets. And towards the end of the day we'll have an opportunity to see the Queens brew scene in action with a visit to one of the city's newest microbreweries.